4G mobile video drives solid 2023 for EE

4G customers’ increased use of video services has made a significant contribution to the strong 2013 financial performance of UK telco Everything Everywhere (EE).

For the fourth quarter and year ended 31 December 2013, EE, which claims to be the UK’s largest and most advanced digital communications company, announced that full-year adjusted EBITDA was up 10% year-on-year to £1.574 billion on the back of service revenues of £5.734 billion, actually down 3.7% compared with the end of 2012.

Driving the company through the year was 4G network uptake for which the company has had a significant head-start over UK rivals. EE’s UK 4G customer base was up 816,000, a 68% increase over the Q3 closing base, to take the total to nearly two million.

Looking at what users are doing with the added capability of the next-generation network, EE’s 4GEE Mobile Living Index showed 4G customers are increasingly watching mobile video, using social media and video calling. In the period 1 January to 10 February 2014, nearly a quarter (23%) of EE subs used the 4G network for video downloading, uploading or streaming. YouTube, DailyMotion and the BBC iPlayer were the most popular mobile video applications with Netflix trailing in their wake.